Pubdate: Sat, 01 Feb 2014
Source: News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA)
Copyright: 2014 Tacoma News, Inc.
Contact: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/letters/submit/
Website: http://www.thenewstribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/442

LEGAL MARIJUANA: KEEP THE FOCUS ON THE CHILDREN

The biggest issue with marijuana is keeping it out of the hands of
kids. The most piddly issue is how it stacks up against alcohol.

The pseudo-debate over alcohol and marijuana has been in the news
again, this time fueled by selective quotes from an interview with
President Obama. Asked about marijuana by a New Yorker interviewer, he
at one point said, "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."

True enough. But "less dangerous than alcohol" is hardly a high bar
to clear. In recent years, marijuana advocates have shrewdly used
booze as a foil to make cannabis look benign by comparison. Those who
invoke the relative dangers of alcohol - now including Obama - are
slipping into a talking point designed to make pot seem as healthy as
granola.

In Obama's case, the comment was casual, not deliberate. As the full
interview makes clear, he repudiates alcohol as a baseline for drug
policy:

"If marijuana is fully legalized, and at some point folks say, 'Well,
we can come up with a negotiated dose of cocaine that we can show is
not any more harmful than vodka, are we open to that?''"

Lawmakers in Olympia shouldn't pick up on the mindless alcohol meme
as they struggle to make licensed marijuana work in a responsible way
in this state.

What they should do is focus relentlessly on juveniles.

People who first use marijuana as young adults tend to either age out
of it or use it casually when they are older. It doesn't work that way
for kids, whose brains are still developing and much more susceptible
to addiction.

For middle-schoolers, high-schoolers and (sadly) elementary students,
marijuana can carry devastating lifelong consequences.

Many studies have found that cannabis use is closely linked to
dropping out or doing poorly in school. The research indicates that
marijuana users are much more likely than nonusers to maintain a D
average or lower.

Recent research strongly suggests something worse: Regular
pot-smokers who get started early in life lose IQ points over time.
They literally get dumber as they get older.

The Liquor Control Board and Legislature ought to be thinking of
every possible way - including public education and police campaigns -
to ensure that marijuana doesn't become more appealing or accessible
to juveniles now that it's been legalized for adults.

No, marijuana is not as dangerous as alcohol. But for kids
especially, that's hardly proof of its virtue.
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MAP posted-by: Matt